Starts With Goodbye
by C.Queen
Summary: The day Andromeda must leave her family has come and her future happiness must start with her saying good bye.


Disclaimer: As always I own nothing but my original characters and the situations all characters find themselves in. Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoy.

Okay, this was supposed to be a songfic but at the last minute I got a warning that FanFicNet was purging songfics too so in order to try and stay on their good side I ask instead that you listen to the song 'Starts With Goodbye' by Carrie Underwood while you read this. Please.

Starts With Goodbye

Looking around her with her face set in determined lines Andromeda Black nodded and then turned her attention back to the list she'd come up with, mentally checking them off in her head as she stared down at the small pouch she held in her other hand. A pouch that now held everything from her room that she wanted to be able to bring with her since in less than an hour she'd be thrown out of not only her home but her family as well. And when that happened she'd have to have everything she needed because it went without saying that her father wouldn't allow her to collect her belongings before throwing her out.

An optimist would likely fool herself into thinking that her parents and sisters loved her enough to accept her choice to become involved with a Muggleborn but she was a Black. She didn't have it in her to be remotely optimistic.

Walking over to her walk-in closet Andromeda opened it, stepping inside to survey the clothes she'd decided to leave behind one last time. Most of them were formal attire or clothes her aunt had picked out for her that had never been to her taste to begin with. She wouldn't be rubbing elbows with her social equals anymore so the fancy clothes would be a waste…and a painful remembrance of the life she was choosing to give up.

But still, she couldn't help but reach out to finger the sleeve of the dress she'd worn to her sister's wedding. A wedding that had been prearranged, cold and loveless, and which had scared her to the core knowing that the same would be her fate. That she hadn't wanted to end up like her sister was one of the reasons she was making the choices she was making which was more than a little ironic in a dark and depressing sort of way.

Her eldest sister would be out for her blood for the choice she was making, Andromeda thought as she lifted the bridesmaid's dress off the rack and studied it, tears gathering in her eyes as she faced the fact that neither of her sisters would be at her wedding someday, her father would never walk her down the aisle the way she'd always imagined he would.

Hastily trying to put the dress back with the others and out of her sight Andromeda cursed when it fell to the floor, freezing as she leaned forward to grab it.

Straightening back up she stared at the crumpled dress for several heartbeats and then turned and headed back out of the closet, leaving it exactly where it was.

_**)**_

Leaving her room Andromeda started walking determinedly down the long hallway, studying the portraits that lined the walls as she went. It had always rather creeped her out really, watching her long dead ancestors stare out at her from their portraits, never smiling or looking remotely happy to see her or any living member of her family. They didn't even really interact with each other, the way the people in the Hogwarts portraits did.

Stopping when she came to the portrait belonging to her great, great grandfather Phineas Nigellus Black, the most hated headmaster Hogwarts had ever had, Andromeda studied the man's face, finding it as stern and unforgiving as always.

"Did you want something?" He inquired from his portrait, his tone of voice suggesting that he was doing her a great favor by acknowledging her presence.

"You had a sister…one your family disowned. Her name was Isla, right?"

Cold fury flashed in his eyes, his jaw tightening in a small display of agitation. "We do not speak of her."

If she was remembering her family tree correctly, not easy when there were those who were deleted from the records or blasted off in some cases, but if memory served Isla had been the youngest of Phineas' siblings, the baby of the family. He had grown up with her, lived with her, been there for all the major events of her childhood and teenage years. She had been his sister, but because she'd married someone her family didn't approve of, a man with Muggle blood, she'd been discarded and exiled.

As she would shortly be discarded and exiled.

Swallowing hard at the thought Andromeda looked him straight in the eye as she asked him a question she knew better than to ask. "Didn't you ever regret banishing Isla from your life? She was your sister, your blo-"

Her words were cut off by her ancestor's short and to the point answer, his tone indicating the conversation was now over. "No. I had no sister by that name."

Just as she'd thought, she shouldn't have bothered to ask.

_**)**_

Leaving the portrait Andromeda headed further down the hallway, pausing in front of the door that led to her younger sister's bedroom. That she was hesitant to knock on it, that her hand shook as she raised it to do exactly that was a testament to her love for her baby sister and one of the big reasons she'd been torn about making the step she'd now resolved to take. Cissy wouldn't understand, Andromeda had no illusions about that. As much as she loved the girl more than any other member of their family she knew the girl too well to know that she wouldn't turn on her too. That this would be the last time her sister greeted her happily.

One more price to pay.

Knocking lightly Andromeda called her sister's name, opening the door when the teenager called for her to enter. Entering the room she smiled at the sight of her sister standing at the foot of her bed, multiple dressed spread over the covers. Though it was still hours before the late dinner party they'd be attending that night Narcissa tended to obsess about her clothes to an amusingly long degree lately.

"Good, you can help me decide." Looking up the girl frowned, taking in her sister's attire. "You aren't thinking of wearing that, are you? It's so plain a Muggle would probably wear it."

Since that was why she'd chosen to wear the dress in the first place Andromeda thought the girl's statement a dark irony. "I'm sorry to interrupt you but there's something I need to tell you before I go down and speak with father. It's important."

Not liking her sister's tone of voice at all, Andromeda had been acting off all week and had almost scared her that morning, behaving so oddly while she'd done her hair for her. "What's wrong? Has Bella been pressuring you to join the Dark Lord again? You really should give him a chance, you know. Lucius went to hear him speak with his father and he said that he's-."

"Cissy." Andromeda's tone of voice had the girl shutting her mouth. "Cissy I want you to listen to me and hopefully…hopefully in time you'll come to believe what I say." Moving forward Andromeda reached out and grasped her sister's upper arms, holding her in place. "The Dark Lord is evil. He might sprout off all the opinions and biases our kind has been saying for centuries but he's different, he's…he's beyond evil. He doesn't want to save us from the Muggles, he wants to rule them. Rule all of us and the death he's so obsessed with."

"You're just…you're just saying that because you're a little fond of that…of that Mudblood Dumbledore made you tutor because he's even stupider than most of his kind. He's become like a stupid mongrel dog for you and you just don't want anything to happen to him."

"Yes, I won't lie, a part of the reason I feel this way is because of Ted. Because…because he's not like a dog to me, Cissy. He's-I love him. I love him, Cissy."

"NO! No you can't!"

"I do. And I have to…you know the rest of the family won't allow it. Won't let me be with him as long as I'm a member of this family."

Andromeda watched as understanding drained every bit of color from her sister's face.

_**)**_

When Andromeda finally stumbled out of her sister's room twenty minutes later there were tears running down her cheeks, her body aching as much from the verbal blows as the physical ones. Her heart felt as though it had been on the receiving end of the Cruciatus curse and her wrists ached from Narcissa latching onto them to try and keep her from leaving, blood dripping from the scarlet grooves the younger girl's nails had left. She could still hear her sister weeping through the solid oak door, her own body shaking with the control it was taking not to copy Narcissa and collapse on the floor as well in a crying heap.

But she had to be stronger than that and calling upon the strength of will she was known for Andromeda straightened and faced the door, drawing out her wand as she casted a spell to insure that her sister wouldn't be able to leave the room any time soon.

She wouldn't risk Narcissa coming down and trying to reason with her again or get in their father's way.

And that done Andromeda headed to the powder room to repair the worst of the damage and then left to go down the stairs and to the main floor. Everything around her was a blur now, her body moving on autopilot as she braced herself for what was sure to be an incredibly short but brutal conversation with the man she called her father.

Knocking on the door to her father's study when she arrived Andromeda stated who it was when her father demanded to know who was disturbing him, waiting for permission before entering her father's sanctuary with her head held high and ice flowing through her veins, chilling her to the core.

Walking over to stand in front of his desk she wasn't surprised when he ordered her to state her business without even bothering to look up from the papers he was going through. She knew that in his own way he at least felt some affection for her, Andromeda thought as she allowed herself one last, loving look before donning her mask of indifferent control.

"Father. I've come to tell you that I've found the man I wish to spend the rest of my life with. I love him and I know you won't approve because he's a Muggleborn. I am not willing to give him up and I understand the consequences of my decision. I consider him worth it and ask only that you restrain Bella from coming after us. I understand that I am no longer your daughter and though I love you I will respect your decision, as I hope you'll do so mine, and never darken your door if that is what you wish."

Cygnus Black slowly looked up from his papers, studying her for several moments without even the barest hint of expression. And then he was pushing back his chair and rising from it with a slow precision that had Andromeda swallowing hard as her self preservation instincts screamed at her to flee.

But she was a Black, she would NOT flee.

Stopping in front of his daughter the head of the family studied her from head to toe and then returned to meet her eyes as he drew back his hand and backhanded her, Andromeda stumbling back a couple steps but remaining on her feet.

He wouldn't try to reason with her or beg her to reconsider her choice, and she'd never thought it would be otherwise. She'd damned herself as soon as she'd admitted that she loved a Muggleborn.

"Get out of my house."

Knowing better than to speak she nodded and did as asked, quietly closing the study door behind her and not looking back once as she walked through her house for the last time and let herself out, knowing she would never be welcome there again.

)

Andromeda had never been in a Muggle town before and found it to be not at all to her liking as she followed the map Ted had drawn for her before they'd left Hogwarts. Everyone seemed to be watching her as she passed them and she knew it couldn't be her clothing because while she didn't know a lot about Muggles she did know the sort of things they wore and her dress was perfectly acceptable. There were so many things she wasn't used to either, making her feel pathetic because they frightened her on some basic level. She was completely and totally out of her depth and she didn't like that one little bit. She didn't belong here and couldn't see how she ever could. The strange, too bright clothing, the ridiculous hairstyles, the fact that some random Muggle thought she was a groovy chick, whatever that meant. She'd told him off of course, even if it had probably been meant as a compliment.

Muggles were stupid enough to think being referred to as a baby chicken was a good thing after all, and groovy sounded vulgar to her.

And what was this Space race the two old men sitting on a stoop were talking about? Why would Muggles want to launch themselves into outer space? Did they somehow know about the Dark Lord and were planning to just commit mass suicide by somehow sending their bodies into the night sky?

To say she was relieved when she finally spotted the correct house number was a massive understatement. She had enough on her mind without trying to figure out Muggle peculiarities on top of it. There'd be plenty of time for that later.

After double checking the address Andromeda studied the unassuming white house before retrieving a pocket mirror from the pouch she'd brought with her, wanting to check her appearance one last time. She'd stopped earlier to erase all the scratches and bruises she'd received before leaving, but it didn't hurt to double check. She was not going to meet Ted's family looking less then presentable.

That done she straightened her shoulders, lifted her chin, and walked up towards the door like she owned the place.

Knocking on the door Andromeda didn't have to wait long before a woman answered the door, a questioning look on her face. Knowing the woman from pictures Ted had shown her Andromeda promptly introduced herself to her boyfriend's mother and then asked to speak with her son.

"I'm afraid he isn't home at the moment, Dear. He wasn't in the best of moods when he came back from school so his mates dragged him off to play a little football." Seeming to pick up on the girl's mood though Ted's mother's face softened. "Just walk down that way, you'll see the place they're playing at easily enough from the pavement. Or you're welcome to stay here and wait for him."

"I'll go to him, thank you. I appreciate your offer to let me wait here. It…is kind of you." Oh yes, being polite to someone she knew was a Muggle was going to take considerable effort on her part, Andromeda mused as she worked up a small smile. But she was going to learn not to despise them completely if it killed her. She'd burned her other bridges after all and Ted was very fond of non-magical folk.

Which was just one more piece of proof that he needed her in his life in order to keep him safe from himself, the naïve little Hufflepuff.

_**)**_

As Ted's mother had suggested Andromeda had no problem spotting the large pitch as she passed by it, brows furrowing as she took in the fact that the game they seemed to be playing consisted of kicking and following a single ball around mindlessly across a field. It seemed terribly simplistic and pointless to her, but perhaps it had to be so that Muggles could follow it without getting confused. It certainly wasn't in the same league as Quidditch, that was for sure.

Walking across the grass she took note of the fact that there was a large group of girls watching the men play, giggling and gesturing in a way that made it clear that they couldn't have been less interested in the sport being played.

If any of them had their eyes on her Ted she'd put an end to that quickly enough.

Ignoring the looks she got from the girls as she came to a stop at the lines that seemed to indicate the barrier between the pitch and the spectators area Andromeda's eyes roamed over the group of young men playing, picking out hers easily enough since he was shorter than most of them and as always he constantly had to push his bangs out of his eyes because they were in the way.

Even as she debated how to get his attention a couple of the players stopped playing and pointed in her direction for some reason, Andromeda watching as Ted glanced over to see what had their attention, their gaze meeting.

And then he was running towards her and her legs started moving of their own accord so that she was running too, not caring that she couldn't possibly look cool or dignified as she threw herself into his arms and held onto him for dear life, tears springing to her eyes and overflowing onto her cheeks as she listened to him murmur her name over and over again as his stroked so loving through her hair.

"I love you. I love you so very much."

"I love you too. I can't believe you're actually here. I didn't think you'd actually- I can't believe you chose me, Andy."

Pulling back slightly Andromeda didn't bother to hide the tears as she framed his face between her hands. "I'll always choose you."

And after a moment's pause. "And don't call me Andy."


End file.
